Formats/HEIC
What Is a HEIC File? Why iPhone Photos Use It and How to Convert
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is the file format iPhones and iPads have used for camera photos by default since iOS 11 in 2017. It is Apple’s implementation of HEIF, an image standard built on the same compression technology as HEVC/H.265 video. The headline benefit is size: a HEIC photo is typically about half the size of an equivalent JPEG at the same visual quality — which adds up fast on a phone that shoots dozens of high-resolution photos a day.
Why Apple switched to HEIC
Modern phone cameras produce very detailed images, and storing them all as JPEGs eats storage quickly. HEIC uses far more efficient compression, so the same photo takes roughly half the space with no visible loss of quality. It also supports things JPEG cannot: storing multiple images in one file (used for Live Photos and burst shots), 16-bit color depth for smoother gradients, transparency, and richer editing metadata like depth maps.
Within Apple’s ecosystem this is invisible. Photos, Messages, AirDrop and iCloud all handle HEIC seamlessly, and iOS often converts it to JPEG automatically when you share to a non-Apple destination. The friction only appears when a HEIC file leaves that ecosystem some other way.
Why HEIC photos won’t open everywhere
HEIC is still a relatively young format, and a surprising amount of software was never built to read it: many website upload forms, content management systems, older Windows versions, some printers and plenty of image editors either reject the file or show a broken-image icon. Because the failure usually comes with no clear error — just a thumbnail that will not load or an upload that silently does nothing — it is easy to blame the photo rather than the format.
JPEG, by contrast, has been the universal photo format for decades and opens literally everywhere. That is exactly why converting a HEIC to JPG is the standard fix whenever a photo needs to go somewhere outside an Apple device.
HEIC vs JPG: which should you keep?
If your photos stay inside Apple apps and devices, there is no reason to convert — you would just give up HEIC’s space savings for nothing. Keep shooting in HEIC and enjoy the smaller library.
The moment a photo needs to travel — a website upload, an email to someone on Windows or Android, a print shop, an older program — convert it to JPG (or PNG if you need transparency or perfectly sharp edges). Note that the converted JPG will usually be larger than the HEIC original, because JPEG is less efficient; that is normal, not a sign anything went wrong. You can prevent the whole problem at the source by setting your iPhone camera to shoot “Most Compatible” (JPEG) in Settings, at the cost of larger files.
How to convert HEIC files
The simplest route is a browser-based image converter: drop the HEIC in, choose JPG or PNG, and download the result. With OfficePad this happens entirely on your device — the photo is never uploaded to a server, which matters for personal pictures. If you are converting a whole camera roll to share online, it is worth compressing the resulting JPEGs afterwards, since converting and shrinking are two separate jobs: one fixes “this won’t open,” the other fixes “this is too big.”
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert HEIC to JPG?
Use an image converter: add the HEIC file, choose JPG as the output, and download it. OfficePad does this in your browser without uploading the photo.
Why is my converted JPG bigger than the HEIC?
HEIC compresses more efficiently than JPEG, so re-encoding to JPG at high quality produces a larger file. That is expected — you are trading storage efficiency for universal compatibility.
Can I stop my iPhone saving as HEIC?
Yes. In Settings, under Camera, choose Formats and select “Most Compatible” to shoot JPEG instead of HEIC.
Work with HEIC on OfficePad
See also in the glossary: Lossy compression, Container format, Codec, EXIF.